Windmill Country: Farmers hopeful because of high price of cotton futures

Eric Eggemeyer finished planting the 2018 cotton crop this week on the family farm in the Lipan Flats east of San Angelo.

“Now we wait for the next good rain,” he said.

For the most part, cotton farmers have experienced a rough start this season, said Doug Wilde, who farms in Tom Green and Runnels counties.

When I asked Doug if all his planting has been done, he said: “Yes, at least for the first time.”

Such is the case for most farmers – a little guarded optimism, yet a hidden hope all will turn out OK in the end. The most positive thing about the cotton situation is the price – well into 90-plus cents per pound – however, that’s futures price and we must grow it first, he said.

“Wind and dust or sand blasted or hail has already played a part in these early stages,” Wilde said.

Hail and high winds damaged young cotton plants in parts of the 12-county Southern Rolling Plains region which stretches from Schleicher to Taylor County, according to the weekly crop progress report. Across the state, 88 percent has been planted, 14 percent squaring and 2 percent setting bolls.

“Of the emerging plants, some looks real good while other cotton is giving us some challenges,” Wilde said. “We varied with some seed varieties and that has made a difference in a few fields.

Although thunderstorms dropped from 2 to 3 inches of moisture in recent weeks across the Concho Valley and Big Country, extremely hot and dry weather has managed to deplete soil moisture for the most part.

Cotton planting is in full swing across West Texas. Even those farmers who plant cotton behind wheat will be pushing forward next week as most wheat harvest is done.

“We will complete loading wheat in railcars this week as the harvest winds down,” Donnie Schwertner told me. “What comes in later will be shipped to markets by truck.”

Schwertner, owner of Top-Tier Grain and Feed Company in Miles, said the majority of locally grown wheat is sent to Gulf Coast ports by train.

Fifty-eight percent of winter wheat has been harvested in Texas to date. Production for the Lone Star State is forecast at 43.2 million bushels, down 37 percent from last year, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

Wheat yield statewide is expected to average 27 bushels, down 2 bushels per acre from last year. Harvested acreage for grain, at 1.60 million acres, is down 32 percent from 2017.

Winter wheat production for the United States is forecast at 1.20 billion bushels, down 6 percent from 2017. Yield is expected to average 48.4 bushels per acre, down 1.8 bushels from last year. Acreage to be harvested for grain or seed is expected to total 24.8 million, down 2 percent from last year.

Meanwhile, final figures on the 2017 cotton crop indicate a 500,000-bale increase in exports, according to the World Agricultural Supply and Demand report. Due to above-average late-season export shipments, the grand total has reached 16 million bales.

U.S. ending stocks are now forecast at 4.2 million bales in 2017/18 and 4.7 million bales in 2018/19, for a stocks-to-use ratio of 25 percent. The projected range of the marketing-year-average farm price is raised 5 cents at each end to 60-80 cents per pound.

Jerry Lackey is agriculture editor emeritus of the San Angelo Standard-Times. Contact him at jlackey@wcc.net.